Doncaster could be set to welcome up to 10 families fleeing persecution in Syria, the local authority has revealed today.

This comes after the council agreed to ‘work with the Government’ to help it fulfil its pledge of accepting 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years.

The council says it will not be able to make a decision on the number of Syrian refugees Doncaster will support until the Home Office provides full detail of their programme.

However, a spokesperson confirmed that early indications are that up to 10 families could be accepted into the borough.

Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said: “We have said we would help with this refugee crisis and are working closely with our colleagues across the region to provide appropriate support. We are still waiting for the detail of the Government’s resettlement programme and until this is forthcoming there is not much more we can add.

“The reality is we are talking about housing relatively small numbers of refugees in the private sector which will not be a burden on council tax payers.”

Councils across the country have also signed up to accept dispossessed families, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, confirmed that the money to house Syrian refugees will come from the UK’s £12 billion international aid budget.

When polled earlier this month, the overwhelming majority of Star readers said they did not think Doncaster should open its doors to refugees.

A total of 72.1 per cent of people said ‘no’ when asked if Doncaster should open its doors to refugees.

Some 127 people or 27.9 per cent of those polled said they thought the borough should welcome refugees.